Family Christmas
by ShannenSekaya
Summary: Sixteen years after Voyager gets home from the Delta Quadrant Kathryn Janeway and her husband Chakotay share the story of their first ever Christmas together with their children.
1. Chapter 1

Sixteen years after Voyager gets home from the Delta Quadrant Kathryn Janeway and her husband Chakotay share the story of their first ever Christmas together with their children.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or the canon characters (unfortunately) but the story and the children are mine.

AN: I know it's past mid-January now but I thought I should post this story now anyway, I hope you like it :-)

* * *

When Federation Councillor Kathryn Janeway looked out the window of her house all she could see were snowflakes. Living in California, she and her family definitely hadn't expected snow on Christmas Eve but Kathryn loved it. She hadn't been overly fond of snow when she was a child but somehow, Christmas wasn't the same without it.

"Has it stopped snowing yet?" Kathryn's younger daughter, Gretchen asked impatiently. "I hate being stuck here."

"We can call Grandma Gretchen," Kathryn offered as she let go of the curtain to look at her daughter. "It'd be almost like being there with her."

"Can we eat through the com?" Kathryn's younger son and Gretchen's twin, Kolopak, asked sullenly. "I'm sorry, mom, but grandma's cooking is infinitely better than yours."

"I know," Kathryn agreed. "I'm sorry, but you know that in good weather it's a fifteen minute walk to the transport station and we can barely see the trees in the garden through this blizzard. We might end up miles away from the house or only go in circles and not get anywhere at all. It's better to stay here, maybe we can visit grandma tomorrow."

"I hope so," Gretchen said enthusiastically. "It's not Christmas without her mint chocolate brownies."

"We can try to replicate some," Kathryn suggested. "Though I know replicated aren't as good, and I'm quite likely to screw it up."

"You're not that bad with a replicator, mom," Kathryn's older daughter, Aliyana, who had just come into the living room, said smiling. Right on her heels came her father and Kathryn's older son, Aliyana's twin, Edward.

"It's not that your mom is bad with replicators, it's that all replicators seem to hate her," Kathryn's husband, Chakotay, said. "Has everyone wrapped their Christmas presents?"

Everyone had and Chakotay coordinated the effort to place all the presents under the tree. Every year the pile just seemed to get bigger. When the kids were younger they had often go two, even three presents each from their three sets of grandparents, Kathryn's mother, Tom Pari's parents and Harry Kim's parents who had all quickly adopted the kids as their surrogate grandparents.

While placing the presents under the beautiful, real pine Christmas tree distracted the kids for a while, it didn't take their minds of the weather in the long run.

"Isn't the weather suppression system supposed to prevent blizzards like that?" Kolopak asked. "And we are in California, where it _never_ snows."

"The system is a technology and technologies fail sometimes," Chakotay said calmly. "I'm sure the weather will be back to normal tomorrow."

"I hope the snow stays for a little while," Kathryn said dreamily. "It's not really Christmas without some snow."

"Mom!" At least it was something all four of Kathryn's kids agreed on.

After some thought, Edward said, "It didn't snow on Voyager."

"Did you celebrate Christmas on Voyager?" Gretchen asked.

Kathryn had almost expected her to say that Edward was being silly and that of course it didn't snow on Voyager. Edward was exceptionally intelligent and was absolutely brilliant with engines, mathematics and programming and had recently taken an interest in theoretical physics but sometimes he had a tendency to state the obvious, which annoyed his younger sister very much. He and Gretchen had recently gotten into a fight about it. Kathryn had discussed it with Gretchen the day before and she had seemed very annoyed and sullen, but had apparently taken Kathryn's words to heart.

"Yes, we did, actually," Kathryn answered. "Every year. There was a big Christmas tree in the mess hall, we had a big party on Christmas Eve and spent weeks worth of replicator rations on presents."

"Really?" Kolopak asked, his eyes wide. "Christmas trees are too big to replicate, so where did you get them?"

"I don't know," Kathryn admitted. The tree had always looked so real and she had wondered for many years how Neelix had found one and gotten it into the mess hall every year, but somehow she didn't really want to know because she was afraid it might take the magic out of it.

"But not everyone on Voyager was from Earth," Aliyana pointed out. "I'm sure not everyone celebrated Christmas, or even knew what it is."

"That's true," Chakotay confirmed. "I had heard of Christmas but I had never celebrated it until your mother tricked me into it."

"How did she trick you?" Edward asked, apparently finding it hard to believe that his mother could be sneaky.

"She told me I would never find out what she got me for Christmas if I didn't attend the party," Chakotay said. "And because she got me a present, I had to get her one too."

"It was the first year of our journey," Kathryn said, "and those of us who were used to celebrating Christmas with our families were feeling a bit down. Trust your Uncle Neelix to take it upon himself to find out exactly why and do something about it so when I came to the mess hall for dinner on Christmas Eve there was a huge Christmas tree in the middle of the hall and Neelix had cooked and replicated all kinds of traditional Christmas dished and desserts, hung up holly, tinsel, fairy lights and mistletoe, he even had a small but personal present for everyone."

"The first year, you said?" Aliyana asked, a smug look on her face. "So there were no romantic meetings under the mistletoe between you and dad?"

"No," Chakotay said, unblushing. "First of all, your mother was my commanding officer and it would have been very unbecoming and unprofessional of us to engage in a romantic relationship. Second of all, we barely knew each other back then."

"Wow, that sounded so rehearsed," Aliyana said, smiling. "But I'm glad you worked it out in the end."

"So am I," Kathryn agreed and reached for her husbands hand, who took it and squeezed it.

"Stop it," Kolopak demanded. "That's gross."

"It's true," Aliyana said. "If mom and dad hadn't gotten together, we wouldn't be here."

"She has a point," Edward backed up his sister but his younger siblings refused to see that.

"I don't care, it's gross," Gretchen said. "Anyway, I believe mom was about to tell us a story."

"I was," Kathryn confirmed. "And you'll be pleased to know that there are no 'smoochies' in it."

"Great," Kolopak said excitedly but Aliyana clearly disagreed with him because she said, "Why not?" at the same time.

"For all the reasons your father just said," Kathryn answered her daughter's question. Aliyana was very romantic and absolutely loved her Uncle Tom's stories about the romance between her parents. Kathryn knew she would have just loved to know of romance between them earlier than there actually had been any. "Can I start now?"

"Please," Chakotay gave his consent but the kids were silent, just looked at her eagerly.

"So, like I said, your Uncle Neelix had organized a big Christmas party," Kathryn said. "I didn't know anything about it until I came down to the mess hall for dinner on Christmas Eve."

* * *

"_It's unlike Commander Chakotay not to attend parties," Neelix said from behind Captain Janeway who was standing by the gigantic Christmas tree standing in the middle of the mess hall. "I did tell him about it."_

"_What?" Janeway reluctantly turned away from the enchanting Christmas tree and Neelix repeated his words. "Oh, he doesn't celebrate Christmas," she said. "Where did you get that beautiful Christmas tree?"_

"_A magician never reveals his secrets," Neelix said cryptically. "Perhaps you should have made attendance mandatory?"_

"_Why would I do that?" Neelix's suggestion finally tore Janeway's attention away from the Christmas tree. "First of all, I didn't know about it until I cam here, and second of all I can't force people to celebrate Christmas."_

"_Why not?" Neelix asked simply. "It's never too late to start."_

"_Well, Christmas is usually something people start celebrating as children," Janeway explained. "You can't expect people to start celebrating the birth of a deity they've never heard of."_

"_Christmas hasn't been about that baby for three hundred years, Captain," Tom Paris said, emerging from the other side of the Christmas tree. "Christmas is about family."_


	2. Chapter 2

"_For hundreds of years historians and theologians and whatnot have been debating whether he was actually born at all and many came to the conclusion that of he was he was most likely born in June," Paris explained why Christmas wasn't about the deity anymore._

"_That's what I found during my research as well," Neelix said. "Christmas was originally celebrated on Earth not because of the birth of a deity but to celebrate the rising sun. That's why it's so late in the year, during the Christmas season the sun only stays in the sky for a few hours, at least in the northern hemisphere."_

"_Now Christmas is about family, good food and having fun," Tom said. "And giving presents, of course." To Janeway's surprise he presented her with a small wrapped package._

"_Oh, Tom, that was absolutely unnecessary," Janeway said, but she smiled, took the present from his hands and excitedly ripped it from the paper. It was a foldable plastic mug. "Thank you!"_

"_The look on your face is all the thanks I need, Captain," Tom said graciously._

"_It's really a shame, isn't it?" Janeway asked suddenly. "That Chakotay and B'Elanna and Tuvok and all those who don't celebrate Christmas don't get any presents and don't get to see this magical tree and taste all these delicious different dishes. Neelix, what exactly is that reddish meat with the white sauce and potatoes?" The Captain pointed at one of the dishes on Neelix's counter._

"_It's smoked lamb meat," Neelix said proudly. "It's replicated, the smoking process takes a few weeks and it has to be slowly boiled for about eight hours. The white sauce is called béchamel, according to the replicator, and is made with white flour, butter and milk. It's a traditional Christmas dish from the ancient Earth nation state Iceland."_

_Janeway tentatively picked up the plate and moved to a table, closely followed by Neelix. She took a few hesitant bites, then dug in like it was her favorite food. "It's absolutely delicious," she complimented him. Something that actually tasted good wasn't very common in Neelix's kitchen._

"_You said the smoking process takes a few weeks," Harry Kim, who was standing next to Captain Janeway's table, asked. He was sporting a Christmas cap and had a string of tinsel draped around his neck. "How did they do it?"_

"_It's delicious, you should try some, Harry," Janeway suggested, speaking with her mouth full._

"_Yeah, try it, Harry," Tom encouraged Harry as he sat down by the Captain's table with the same dish. "It's very tasty. I must congratulate you, Neelix."_

"_Thank you, Tom." Neelix's chest swelled with pride. "The smoking process is actually quite interesting. The meat was stripped from the bone and tightly wrapped in a net, then hung from the ceiling of smoking huts for a few weeks. The smoke was made by burning dried birch and dried sheep manure underneath the meat."_

"_Eww," Harry, who hadn't been eating anything at all, put his hand in front of his mouth as if were about to be sick. "Excuse me," he said and quickly left the table, quite pale._

"_Well, this is replicated so there is really no actual meat or dried sheep manure involved," Neelix tried to apologize._

_

* * *

_

"Okay, seriously mom, you're making this up," Gretchen said with an obvious tone of disbelief. "There is no way any self respecting human being would ever eat anything that was exposed to the smoke of anything's manure."

"Actually, there is," Chakotay said. "In my tribe dried meat was very common and more often than not, smoke was used to speed up the process. My ancestors quickly discovered that the meat tasted differently if different things were burned, among the dried animal droppings."

"Eewww." Gretchen was so disgusted that her entire body shook. "Promise me you will never make me eat that."

"I do not understand," Edward said suddenly. "Why is using smoke from sheep manure to flavor meat any more disgusting than using smoke from wood?"

"Because it's manure," Gretchen said in that annoyed tone she sometimes used when she talked to her older brother. "It's the sheep's poop, their shit, you know."

"Watch your language, Gretchen," Chakotay said, clearly out of habit.

"I'm sorry but that's the word for it," Gretchen said undeterred. "It's sheep shit."

"I know," Edward said, still confused. "Why does that disgust you? If it makes the meat taste better and preserves it, why is it wrong?"

"Why don't we let mom continue the story?" Aliyana asked in a commanding tone that clearly meant that this was not a suggestion. Though she and Edward were only four years older than the younger twins, Aliyana, as the oldest, had a certain authority over the others and she wasn't afraid to use it. "We can discuss sheep dung later."

"Fine," Gretchen agreed, though she was obviously annoyed at her sister's command.

"Yes," Kathryn picked it up immediately to avoid a fight between her children. No matter what the topic was, Aliyana and Edward were always on the same side and Gretchen and Kolopak were always against them. "Where were we?"

"I believe you just had an epiphany that the meat you were eating was disgusting," Kolopak said.

"No, I decided that it tasted good and I ate it anyway," Kathryn said. "But I did have an epiphany about something else, a little bit later."

* * *

"_How can you eat that?" Harry asked. He had returned and sat down by the Captain's table with a plate of turkey, which he didn't seem to have the appetite for._

"_It still tastes good, no matter what it's made of," Tom said, with his mouth full._

_Apparently deciding that it was time to change the topic, Harry asked, "So what was it like, celebrating Christmas in Indiana, Captain?"_

"_It was usually very white," Janeway told him. "And festive. We had it all, Santa Claus, turkey, presents, a tree, carols and lots of snow. When we were kids, my sister and I used to go out on Christmas Day and make a snowman." She didn't mention how her father wasn't always there to celebrate with them, or how much more she always missed him at Christmas or that after his death her family hadn't celebrated Christmas at all for a full five years._

"_What about you, Harry?" Tom asked._

"_Well, I never got presents from Santa Claus, my parents told me he was just a scam," Harry said sadly. "So when all the other kids at school were talking about all the cool presents they got from him, I could only tell them about the presents I got form my parents. I usually got very few presents, my parents weren't exactly young when they had me and their parents had passed away. They were also both only children."_

"_Aww," Tom said, patting Harry's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Harry. You can rejoice in the fact that you have a much bigger family now."_

"_Family," Janeway said, dropping her fork. "That's it. That's what Christmas is about and that's why Neelix is right, attendance should be mandatory."_

"_You can't force people to celebrate Christmas," Harry protested._

"_Watch me," the Captain challenged him and stood up from the table. She quickly strode out of the mess hall and took the turbo lift one deck down. She stopped outside the quarters adjacent to her own and defiantly rang the door chime before she changed her mind._

"_Come in," Commander Chakotay's voice sounded from the other side of the sliding doors, which opened a second later and Janeway stepped in. "Captain, what can I do for you?"_

"_Attendance to the Christmas party is not optional, Commander," she said commandingly. "Which means you're coming with me. Neelix has a present for you, there is a giant Christmas tree in the middle of the mess hall, a lot of good food and even better desserts."_

"_Captain, you know very well that I don't celebrate Christmas," Chakotay said calmly. "I see no reason to celebrate because some kid was maybe born on this day twenty five hundred years ago."_

"_Christmas isn't about that. It's about family and I think the crew should celebrate it as a family."_

"_Captain, this crew is not a family," Chakotay argued. "We've barely even become friends."_

"_There's an old saying," Janeway said, "that one can choose one's friends, but one can't choose one's family. We didn't choose each other but we are stuck together anyway. There's an old aunt or uncle that everyone dislikes in every family, but they always get invited to the Christmas parties because they _are_ family and that's what Christmas is all about."_

"_You might be right about that," Chakotay said, "but you can't force us to celebrate Christmas."_

"_You don't actually have to celebrate," Janeway promised him. "Just attend the party. You'll never find out what I got you for Christmas if you don't."_


	3. Chapter 3

"_Does that mean I have to get you something?" Chakotay asked, smiling a little bit now. The Captain seemed to have won the battle but she wasn't sure she'd won the war._

"_Yes, it does, Commander," she confirmed. They made their way out of his quarters together but by the turbo lift, Janeway said, "You go on, I have another crew member to flush out."_

_Another turbo lift ride led Captain Janeway to another corridor and another officer's quarters. A few moments after she rang the chime the door opened, though no one had said anything._

"_What is it?" Lieutenant Torres asked in a bored voice. She was sitting in a chair, reading something from a PADD._

"_Attendance to the Christmas party is not optional, Lieutenant," Janeway repeated what she had told Chakotay. She didn't feel the need to explain her command to B'Elanna like she had to Chakotay._

"_It was," B'Elanna said, still sounding bored and as though she didn't care in the least that the Captain was standing in her quarters. "Why isn't it anymore?"_

"_Because I said so, Lieutenant," Janeway said commandingly. That seemed to get B'Elanna's attention and she stood up to face the Captain, though she still seemed not to care very much._

"_I really don't see any point in going, I don't celebrate Christmas," she said._

"_That's not a requirement," Janeway informed her. "Attendance is mandatory, whether you celebrate or not is up to you. Report to the mess hall, Lieutenant, that's an order." Janeway turned around to leave._

"_Yes, sir," B'Elanna said sullenly._

"_What was that?" Janeway turned around just enough to look at B'Elanna._

"_I said, yes, Captain," she said, correcting her mistake._

"_Good," Janeway said. At least B'Elanna seemed to care about something. "You have ten minutes, B'Elanna." The sliding doors closed behind her with a swoosh._

_

* * *

_

"Why was Aunt Bel in such a bad mood?" Kolopak asked, interrupting the story. "She loves Christmas, she's always so happy."

"Why don't you let your mother finish the story, you'll find out," Chakotay suggested.

"Oh, you will find out," Kathryn said, "but not until we've had some hot chocolate." She stood up from the far too comfortable chair, nodded to Aliyana, who stood up as well, and the two of them headed to the kitchen.

"Is it true?" Aliyana asked as she helped her mother to make hot chocolate. "I mean, I've seen Voyager's mess hall and I find it pretty hard to believe that there was space in there for a 'gigantic' Christmas tree. And pine trees can't have been easy to find in the Delta Quadrant."

"I don't know how Neelix did it, but it's all true," Kathryn assured her. "Don't you think your father would have said something if it wasn't?"

"Maybe he's in on it," Aliyana hypothesized. "You might have made it up together. I also find it hard to believe that there was no romance between you."

"We didn't make it up, sweetheart," Kathryn said. "And you know perfectly well that your father and I didn't get involved until two years after we returned to the Alpha Quadrant." Kathryn handed her daughter three hot mugs. "You can ask you father if he knows what Neelix's secret was, but please don't do it until I've gone to sleep, I don't want to know."

"Why not?"

"Because it takes the magic out of it," Kathryn explained. "Be careful with those, dear."

Her request for caution was met with a "Yeah, yeah," from her daughter who hurried into the living room with the hot mugs. She was closely followed by Kathryn, who sat down after having handed out the mugs she was carrying and kept one to herself.

"So where were we, again?" she asked.

"Kathryn, why don't you let me continue the story?" Chakotay asked. "Seeing you there, giving presents to everyone, chatting, making sure they enjoyed the party, seeing your face light up when you opened your presents, it turned me from not really caring about Christmas at all to never wanting to go another year without celebrating it."

* * *

"_It's really annoying, isn't it?" B'Elanna asked. She had sat down by Chakotay's table, who hadn't taken any notice of her because he was to mesmerized by the Captain._

"_What's that?" he asked distractedly._

"_Being forced to attend this lame Christmas party," B'Elanna said, only half-heartedly prodding her turkey with her fork. "I mean, Christmas is just another one of those useless human celebrations, nobody believe that what's-his-name deity was actually born and that Santa Claus comes down the chimney and rides around on a sleigh with flying reindeer."_

"_Wait, Santa what?" Chakotay asked, finally tearing his eyes from the Captain, who had just opened a present from Neelix. Chakotay had heard of Christmas and knew that while most human nowadays were atheists, many still celebrated Christmas and used it as an occasion to get together, eat good food and give presents, but he had never heard of Santa Claus and the idea of flying reindeer was absurd._

"_You haven't heard of Santa Claus, Commander?" Crewman Chell asked from the next table. "I'm Bolian, but I love Christmas and Santa is my favorite. Unfortunately I haven't been very nice these past few years so I haven't gotten a present from Santa for a while."_

"_Santa Claus lives on Earth's north pole," B'Elanna explained. "He keeps a list of all the children in the world and watches whether they are naughty or nice. If they're nice he goes to their house on Christmas Eve, hops down the chimney and leaves a present in their stocking, which they have hung up by the fireplace."_

"_And he gets around in a sleigh drawn by flying reindeer?" Chakotay asked. "You really believe that?"_

_

* * *

_

At this point in the story, Kathryn looked at her husband and hope he would pick up on the warning she was trying to send him. She knew Aliyana was too old to believe in Santa Claus and Edward never had because there were no such things as flying reindeer and visiting every child in the world was impossible. If anyone tried to convince him otherwise, he'd simply laugh at them and pity them their gullibility. But Kathryn wasn't sure if maybe Gretchen and Kolopak still believed in Santa.

"B'Elanna said, 'No, of course not, it's just a fairy tale' but Chell said, 'Yes, absolutely. I know it's hard to believe that he can visit every child in the world in one night but that's part of the magic.'" Chakotay continued his story. Kathryn smiled to him, he had interpreted her look correctly. He smiled back to her, rather mysteriously, almost like he was hiding something and Kathryn assumed he was trying to keep the kids from figuring out the truth.

"Come on, dad," Kolopak said. "We're too old to believe in Santa. We know it's you who puts the presents in our stockings."

"Yeah, we just haven't found where you hide them yet," Gretchen continued. Kathryn would never stop marvelling at the fact that Gretchen and Kolopak always seemed to know what the other was thinking and they finished each other's sentences with ease. When they were toddlers they even had their own twin language which no one could understand but them, something Aliyana and Edward never had. Even so, Aliyana and Edward were a very solid team.

"Have you ever seen Santa Claus?" Chakotay asked them.

"No, and that's how we know he doesn't exist," Kolopak said, like it was the most obvious thing.

"So, since you've never seen a Hirogen hunter, does that mean they don't exist?" Chakotay challenged his son.

"No, but we've heard stories about them," Gretchen said. "And seen holoimages."

"You've also heard stories about Santa Claus," Chakotay said. "And not just from us, you've heard them from your grandparents, your uncle Tom, Chell and even Harry. If he doesn't exist, why are there so many stories about him? Don't dismiss something just because you haven't seen it."

"Dad, flying reindeer do not exist," Edward said. "And there is no way a single human could travel around the entire world and stopping in every house in one night."

"Like I said, just because you haven't seen flying reindeer, doesn't necessarily mean they don't exist," Chakotay said. "And who said Santa Claus was human?"

"Are you trying to tell us he's an alien?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chakotay had barely opened his mouth to answer Gretchen's question when Edward said, "Unless you are suggesting that first contact between humans and aliens happened a lot sooner than the history books teach, I find it highly unlikely that he's an alien. Legends of Santa Claus have been with humans for over six hundred year, it's only been three hundred and thirty one years since first contact."

"All right, how about we let dad finish the story?" Aliyana suggested. "Whether or not we believe in Santa Claus is irrelevant. Bel said no, Chell said yes, which doesn't surprise me. Uncle Chell absolutely loves Christmas and everything about it, while at the time Bel didn't seem too fond of it."

Kathryn had never really understood why her children insisted on calling B'Elanna "Bel". She remembered when Aliyana and Edward were toddlers and neither of them could say "B'Elanna" quite correctly so they had shortened it down to "Bel". B'Elanna hadn't objected and the name had stuck. All the Voyager children called her "Aunt Bel".

"Right, on with the story," Chakotay said. "Chell dived into a lengthy explanation of how Santa Claus could have pulled off visiting every child in the world in one night, but B'Elanna seemed sadder than before."

* * *

"_Why the long face, Torres?" Tom, who had snagged a chair from the next table and sat down next to B'Elanna, asked. "You know, just because you don't like Christmas, doesn't mean you can ruin it for the rest of us."_

"_Whatever," B'Elanna said. "It's just all so meaningless. Like I said to Chakotay a minute ago, nobody actually believes in Santa anymore."_

"_Wait, he's not real?" Tom asked, appearing quite hurt. "But Santa gives me presents every year. I'm always nice, never naughty."_

"_Somehow I doubt that," Captain Janeway, who was standing behind Tom, said. "Programming my replicator to make cold coffee is not nice, definitely very naughty. Remember that Santa knows everything."_

"_He sees you when you're sleeping," Chell sang. "He knows when you're awake."_

"_He knows if you've been bad or good," Tom joined in._

"_So be good for goodness sake," Janeway joined in too._

_Chakotay had hoped the catchy tune and hearing her fellow officers and commanding officer sing would cheer B'Elanna up but her bad mood only seemed to have intensified._

_Janeway snagged a chair from a nearby table and sat down next to Tom. "I'm not trying to intrude, B'Elanna, but is there a specific reason you don't like Christmas? Didn't you celebrate it as a child?"_

"_Klingons don't celebrate Christmas," B'Elanna said and it sounded rehearsed like it was something she had heard many times and been taught to say. "Nor do they believe in something as silly as Santa Claus."_

"_I see," Tom said. "You hate Christmas because your mother wouldn't let you celebrate it and never gave you any presents when you were a kid."_

"_I can't blame her," B'Elanna said. "She's Klingon. I celebrated Christmas with my father and he always made sure I got presents both from him and Santa, but then my dad left and my mother hated the idea. She said it was a silly human ritual, as silly as celebrating one's birthday."_

"_So you stopped believing?" Chell asked sadly. "I'm so sorry, B'Elanna. But it's never to late to start."_

"_Yeah, whatever," B'Elanna said, now more sad than ever. "I showed up, no can I please be excused, Captain?"_

"_I suppose so," Janeway gave her consent. "But I hope to see you in a better mood at next year's party."_

_B'Elanna didn't answer that, just left the mess hall in a quick stride that told everyone they should get out of her way._

"_That is so sad," Chell said. "I didn't celebrate Christmas as a child either but many of my human friends did. I always said that when I grew up I'd celebrate every year and I have."_

"_I'm actually glad you forced me to come here, Captain," Chakotay said, smiling to his Captain. "I don't think I really want to go another year without celebrating Christmas."_

"_Really?" Janeway asked, ecstatic, her face lighting up. "That's wonderful, exactly what I hoped for."_

"_Well, I might wanna call it a night too," Harry said as he stood up from the table. "I need to get my nine hours of sleep."_

"_All right," the Captain consented. "Merry Christmas, Harry."_

"_Merry Christmas, Captain," Harry said and his cheeriness sounded a bit forced._

_When he was gone, Chell asked, "Is it just me, or did he seem a bit sad too?"_

"_I don't know," Tom said. "It might be because he never got to believe in Santa either." He paused for a moment, looking very much like he was coming up with a plan. "I have an idea how we can change that. May I speak with you in private, Commander?"_

"_Sure," Chakotay agreed. "Walk me to my quarters, I think it's time for me to sleep too." He stood up, patted Chell's shoulder and smiled to the Captain. "Merry Christmas."_

"_Merry Christmas," Janeway and Chell said in unison as Chakotay and Tom walked away._

"_So, what's this idea of yours, Tom?" Chakotay asked as the two officers waited for the turbolift._

"_You might not like it," Tom said warily. "It required using your override code to sneak into Harry's quarters while he's sleeping."_

"_So you can give him a present and say it's from Santa Claus?" Chakotay asked. "Isn't that taking the whole Santa thing a bit too far?"_

"_He will never know it was us," Tom promised._

"_It's not him I'm worried about," Chakotay said. He shuddered to think what the Captain would do if she found out._

"_The Captain will never know either," Tom made another promise._

"_Well, all right then," Chakotay agreed. "I'll do it on one condition."_

"_Name it," Tom said._

"_That we do the same for B'Elanna."_

_

* * *

_

"Wait, you actually broke into my officers' quarters to play Santa?" This time it was Kathryn who interrupted the story. "Why have I never heard about that before?"

"It was for the greater good of the family," Chakotay explained. "After this, both Harry and B'Elanna eagerly attended the Christmas party and Tom and I like to believe their change of heart was thanks to us."

"Please tell me you didn't break into anyone else's quarters." Kathryn shook her head in disbelief. This sounded just like something Tom would suggest, even do but she would never have believed it of Chakotay.

"All right," I didn't break into anyone else's quarters," Chakotay said simply. "But that doesn't mean I didn't want to. I often thought about breaking into your quarters."

"To do what exactly?" Kathryn said smiling. They had been married fourteen years but they could still play that game.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Chakotay said mysteriously.

"Okay, stop it, you're grossing me out, _again_," Gretchen demanded. "Go on with the story, dad, what did you give Bel and Harry?"

"We gave them a small Christmas tree, a stocking with some presents, some holly and mistletoe," Chakotay said. "They both got the same thing I gave your mother that year, a framed holoimage of the senior staff. It's hanging on the wall over there."

"Aww," Aliyana said dreamily. "Did Bel and Harry ever find out it was you?"

"I don't think so," Chakotay replied. "If they did, they didn't confront me about it, but they may have accused Tom."

"Mom, if attendance was mandatory," Gretchen asked, "where was uncle Tuvok?"

"He kindly offered to stay on the bridge," Kathryn answered. "Someone had to be there, just in case and I think it was awfully kind of him to give up his evening so the rest of the family could celebrate. But I always made sure he got a present, which was always met with 'As I do not celebrate Christmas, a present is quite unnecessary, Captain.'"


	5. Chapter 5

"To which I always replied, 'Well, I do so it is.'" Kathryn continued telling her children how she had always given Tuvok a Christmas present. "And I know it's hard to believe, but once he even returned the favor."

"I think you should have made him go to the party," Kolopak said. "Maybe he wouldn't hate Christmas so much if you had."

"Tuvok doesn't hate Christmas," Kathryn said. "Like most Vulcans, he just doesn't care much for parties. They see it as one of those fruitless human social activities."

"What about Seven?" Edward asked. "I know she celebrates Christmas now, but did you have to force her to attend the party after she came aboard?"

"Yes," Kathryn said, remembering exactly how hard it had been to get Seven to attend any kind of social gathering. "The first year she was onboard she outright refused to attend until I made it a direct order. She came, stayed for ten minutes, commenting on how fruitless this was and how she didn't understand it, saying Christmas was irrelevant and so on. Everyone got so fed up with it that they asked me to kindly allow her to leave the party."

"She's never exactly been very fond of Christmas," Aliyana said.

"Well, since she and Joe adopted Henry, they've tried to celebrate for his sake," Chakotay said. "And they give you presents every year."

"Poor Seven," Gretchen said. "It can't have been very nice for her to grow up with the Borg, both without her parents and Christmas."

"Did she remember celebrating Christmas before she was assimilated?" Edward asked.

"I don't know," Kathryn said. "You should ask her."

"I doubt she did," Chakotay said. "She remembers very few things from that time. Only flashes, her favorite color, something about strawberries, I think."

"We're gonna have to ask Aunt Bel and Uncle Harry to tell us how they felt when they woke up on Christmas Day," Kolopak said, apparently coming to the conclusion that Seven's memories of Christmas wasn't an interesting topic of discussion. "But I promise not to tell them it was you and Tom who put the presents and the tree."

"Thank you," Chakotay said.

"All right, then," Kathryn stood up and motioned to her younger twins. "It's time for bed, you two." She kissed her husband lightly on the cheek and squeezed his shoulder. "Don't stay up too late, all right?"

"Right," Chakotay agreed, giving his wife a small smile.

"Why do Aly and Edward get to stay up longer than we do?" Gretchen complained, but she and her twin both stood up and followed their mother out of the living room.

"Because you're nine and they're thirteen," Kathryn said, ushering them out of the living room and up the stairs to their bedrooms.

"So, dad," Aliyana said when Kathryn and the younger kids were gone, "you want to share with us how Neelix pulled of that Christmas tree trick? It seems far too convenient that he just happened to find a pine tree suitable for use as a Christmas tree in the Delta Quadrant at that exact same time of year every year."

"It was most ingenious, really," Chakotay said. "I wondered about this many times myself. It was so real, according to your mother, it even smelled like a Christmas tree. Neelix was careful not to have it exactly the same every year so as to make us think he decorated it himself."

"But he didn't?" Edward asked. "And the tree wasn't real, was it?"

"I suppose he could have decorated it somewhere else and then transferred it to the mess hall, but it wasn't a real pine tree, no," Chakotay said. Edward seemed to have figured it out but Aliyana's expression was blank.

"There were no holoemitters in the mess hall," Edward argued.

"Wait, the tree was holographic?" Aliyana asked incredulously.

"Yes," Chakotay confirmed. "For one night a year there was a single holoemitter installed above one of the ceiling panels which projected the Christmas tree."

"And the Captain didn't need to approve that?" Edward asked.

"Not really," Chakotay said. "You see, Harry was technically the officer in charge of those things so authorization from him was enough."

"So she never knew?" Aliyana asked.

"No," Chakotay confirmed. "And don't tell her. Ever."

"I know, she doesn't want to lose the magic," Aliyana said. "How did you know?"

"One year there was a power surge and the tree flickered a little bit," Chakotay explained. "Thankfully it only happened once or twice and your mother's back was turned."

"Was there a Christmas party every year?" Edward asked. "I do find it hard to believe that you managed to hold it on Christmas Eve every year with all the distractions."

"No, unfortunately we didn't manage that," Chakotay said. "Sometimes we were fighting or in very bad shape but we all knew that if we got through it we would hold a Christmas party like never before and there would be even more cause to celebrate."

"That is so sweet," Aliyana said fondly.

"How can a story have taste?" he twin asked.

"You might want to look up the definition of sweet again," Aliyana suggested as she stood up. "I'm going to bed too, don't stay up too late, Edward." And with that she left the living room and headed up the stairs.

"Sweet, adjective. Having the taste or flavor characteristic of sugar or honey," Edward recited from his literary eidetic memory. "Producing the one of the four basic taste sensations that is not bitter, salt or sour. Not rancid or stale. Not salt or salted. Pleasing to the ear, making an enjoyable sound. Pleasing or fresh to smell, fragrant. Pleasing or agreeable, delightful." Here he paused and tilted his head sideways. "I think I understand."

"That's great," Chakotay said, smiling to his son. "You should head to bed too, you don't want to wake up late tomorrow, do you?"

"Are you trying to get rid of me so you can play Santa?" Edward asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" his father simply said. "I am just going to tidy up there mugs here, then I'll go to bed too."

"All right," Edward agreed. "Good night, dad." Edward also headed out of the living room and up the stairs. Chakotay stood looking in his son's wake for a few minutes. Edward was so different from the others. Gretchen and Kolopak were impatient, demanding and energetic and very much alike. If he hadn't known it was impossible he'd have said they were identical twins. Aliyana was responsible, caring and very romantic and nothing like Edward at all. Edward was calm, exceptionally intelligent and liked books better than people.

When they were a few years younger, some kids at school had bullied Edward, saying he was a nerd and asking him uncomfortable questions about why he liked books so much. Aliyana had taken it as a personal insult and threatened every one of their classmates, saying that her and Edward's mother was a Councillor on the Federation Council and she could pass a law against bullying and deport the kids parents from the Federation. Not a single one of their classmates every dared say anything even remotely resembling mean to Edward, or Aliyana for that matter, after that.

Aliyana had lost most of her friends but shortly after the incident Edward was moved up several grades and Aliyana was no longer burdened with protecting him all the time. Now she had so many different friends that Chakotay could barely keep up. He could have sworn she brought home a new girl every day, all of whom called him "Sir" and Kathryn "ma'am Councillor". Chakotay suspected that many of them were only trying to befriend his daughter because her mother was the single most popular Councillor in the Federation Council.

Chakotay tidied up the mugs but after that he didn't go to sleep. He sat back down in his favorite chair with his favorite Christmas book, Charles Dickens' _A Christmas Carol_. It was one of those ancient Earth stories about the meaning of Christmas, which was essentially, as Kathryn had told him so many years ago, that family means more than anything else.

He had been reading for about an hour when he heard the faint sound of bells, like sleigh bells, and he smiled to himself. But instead of black boots appearing in the fireplace, a bright white light appeared in Kathryn's favorite chair and when it faded a big man in a red suit with a white beard was sitting there.

"Hasn't anyone told you that staying up all night is very naughty, Chuckles?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Can't you come up with anything else?" Chakotay asked in turn. "You've said the same thing every Christmas Eve for thirteen years."

"It never hurt anyone to be consistent, Chuckles," Q said. He snapped his fingers and the children's stockings bulged outwards as if they had been filled with something. "There. Now I only have thirty billion seven hundred and twenty million two hundred thousand nine hundred and ninety nine houses to go."

"Thank you," Chakotay said, finally looking up from his book. He and Q had never exactly been friends but ever since Edward and Aliyana were born Q had come by on Christmas Eve and left the kids presents. Not many kids in the world had a real Santa Claus, though this one didn't live on the north pole and was actually not really a Santa Claus.

"I'm not doing this for you," Q said. "It was never about you."

"I know," Chakotay told him. "You're doing this for Kathryn, only you won't tell her because that takes the magic out of it."

"Everyone needs a little magic in their lives, don't you think?" Q said. "Especially all work and no play kind of people like Kathy."

"You had something to do with this weather, didn't you?" Chakotay wanted to know. "Someone once told me that the Q can create so powerful storms that the weather suppression system can't do anything about them."

"It's not Christmas without some snow," Q said, repeating Kathryn's words from earlier that night. "So because I can I made it snow, just for Kathy."

"As her husband I am authorized to speak for her on the matter, so on her behalf, thank you," Chakotay said.

"In that case, she is welcome," Q said. He looked about ready to leave, but seemed to change his mind. "For old times sake, just because it's Christmas," he said and snapped his fingers again.

Another two stockings appeared by the fireplace filled with presents. Stitched into the front of them were decorations and one name on each.

"Thank you," Chakotay repeated to the fading white light in Kathryn's chair. "Santa Claus."

On Christmas Day Kathryn woke up in her bed, alone. She wasn't surprised, Chaktoay always stayed up late on Christmas Eve to put the presents from Santa in the kids' stockings and he usually fell a sleep by the fire.

"Wake up, mommy!" Gretchen called eagerly from the hall as she pounded on her mother's bedroom door. "It's present time!" Kathryn heard her run down the stairs, closely followed by someone Kathryn assumed was Kolopak.

"Don't yell like that," Kathryn heard Aliyana request of her sister. She said something else, but Kathryn couldn't make it out.

A few minutes later Kathryn was sitting in her favorite chair by the fire place, watching her children tear up their presents and wondering how her husband could possibly sleep through all the noise and racket. She had been sitting there for a long time before she noticed that there were two extra stockings hanging from the mantlepiece, one with her name on it and one with Chakotay's.

"What's this?" she asked of no one in particular.

"Looks like Santa left something for you and dad too," Aliyana said. "Daddy, wake up, you're missing all the fun."

"I am awake, darling," Chakotay said from his chair, though his eyes were still closed.

"You got a present from Santa too," Kolopak said. "Though you probably knew that."

"What?" Chakotay finally opened his eyes and straightened up in the chair. "What did you get?" The question was directed at Kathryn who was busy unwrapping her present from Santa Claus.

"All kinds of things," Kathryn said laughing. The wrapping had revealed a box and inside it was a myriad of things. A coffee cup, an old bracelet, a small wooden statue, among other things. And a card. "'I figured it was time to return all the things that you lost'," Kathryn read from the card.

"Wow," Chakotay said and Kathryn noticed how he genuinely sounded surprised. "How did he do that?"

"Well, he is Santa Claus," Kathryn replied, though she knew the question was meant to be rhetorical. "He can do anything."

"Don't try to tell us you didn't know what was in that box, dad," Gretchen said. "I thinks it's pretty lame, you just found some random old stuff and put it in a box."

"Some of these things might be old but they're not random," Kathryn said, quite surprised. She was sure Chakotay could not have found all these things by himself and Kathryn couldn't help but wonder how he had done it. "This cup was my favorite on Voyager, it has a dent, right here. And my father gave this bracelet when I was five. And this statue..." Kathryn smiled at the memory of it. Chakotay had carved it for her on New Earth many years ago. He had presented her with it while they were hiking on the forest but Kathryn, in a moment of clumsiness, had dropped it in the grass. She had spent an hour looking for it but had been unsuccessful.

"I remember that statue," Chakotay said. "I made it." Again there was that tone of surprise in his voice but Kathryn decided not to mention it. It would ruin the magic. Instead she handed him his own stocking.

It took Chakotay ages to remove all the wrapping because whoever wrapped the present had taken great care to make it look much bigger than it actually was. When the wrapping was finally all off, the real present was quite small, about the size of Chakotay's palm. It was square and wrapped in plastic. Chakotay turned it over.

"It's a water expandable vintage Native American tent," Chakotay said smiling. "Though I don't know why it says it's American, the label says it's made in China."

Everyone in the living room laughed at that but before anyone could say anything, the doorbell rang. Aliyana and the younger kids rushed from their presents, arguing about who it might be on their way to the door.

"It's easier said than done getting through your garden, Aunt Kathy," Tom Paris said brightly as he came into the living room. His socks and bottom legs of his pants were wet.

"Don't ever call me that again, Tom," Kathryn said, a warning in her voice, but she smiled and stood up to give him a hug. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, Kathryn," Tom replied as he returned her hug. He then offered Chakotay his hand and managed to pull him out of the chair and into a hug.

"It's really funny to walk here from the transport station," Miral, Tom and B'Elanna's daughter was saying to Aliyana as they came into the living room. "At the station there was no snow, then we came closer to your house and there it was, very neatly just in your garden."

"There was a snow storm last night," Aliyana explained. "We have no idea why or how."

"That snow out there is insane," Owen, Tom and B'Elanna's son, said enthusiastically. "It's like really warm everywhere but in your garden. Can we go out and make a snowman?" Owen was three years younger than Gretchen and Kolopak but you wouldn't have known it from looking at him because he was one fourth Klingon.

"Sure," Kolopak was all for it. "But we still have some presents to open."

"Chakotay," B'Elanna said brightly as she finally came into the living room, which was getting a little crowded. "Merry Christmas. And to you, Councillor."

"Merry Christmas, B'Elanna," Kathryn said, standing up again and pulling B'Elanna into a hug. "How many times must I ask you to call me Kathryn?"

"At least once more, Councillor," B'Elanna said, smiling. They all laughed. "Merry Christmas, Edward." B'Elanna turned her attention to Edward who was curled up in a chair with a book.

"Merry Christmas, Aunt Bel," Edward said without even looking up from the book. Tom's parents had given him an old fashioned inbound book and he was absolutely engrossed in it.

"Can I get you anything? Tea, coffee?" Kathryn offered, trying to play housewife. Her friends and husband just smiled at her and graciously declined.

While the older kids finished opening their presents Owen drummed impatiently on the floor with his fingers. "Can we go out and play in the snow now?" he asked finally.

"By all means," Kathryn gave her consent and Owen's parents nodded. "Just don't venture out of the garden."

"Why would we do that?" Owen asked, surprised at his Aunt's silliness. "That's where all the snow is."


	7. Chapter 7

Owen, Gretchen and Kolopak all stood up and went to put on their coats excitedly talking about the best ways to make snowmen. Because the twins were older and had spent Christmas with their grandmother in Indiana more times than Owen, they naturally believed they were better at it.

"Miral, why don't you go with them?" Tom suggested.

"All right," Miral agreed. "You wanna come too, Aly?"

"Sure," Aliyana agreed and stood up. Miral was three years older than Aliyana, and the two, along with Edward, were the oldest of the Voyager kids. Though Miral was one fourth Klingon and therefore always seemed about two years older than she actually was, she and Aliyana were very good friends and enjoyed many of the same things. "You coming, Edward?" Aliyana asked her twin.

"I am not fond of snow and I do not particularly fancy getting myself wet making a snowman or participating in a snowball fight or any other such fruitless activity," Edward said, without ever looking up from his book.

"Suit yourself," Miral said. Her brother and the other twins were already outside. "Come on."

While the kids were outside Tom told Kathryn all about his latest holonovel and B'Elanna told Chakotay about the new ship design she was working on. Kathryn then told B'Elanna about the latest political problems in the quadrant and Chakotay shared his view of the next generation of Starfleet officers with Tom. And all the while, Edward sat curled up in his chair, lost in his book.

After about two hours the kids noisily came back inside. They were all wet through and though they had had a lot of fun they were colder than they had expected and cheered loudly at Kathryn's offer of hot chocolate.

When everyone had settled comfortably in the living room, cradling their hot mugs, Edward finally looked up from his book.

"Aunt Bel," he said. "Last night mom and dad were telling us about the first Christmas party you all had together on Voyager. Dad told us that you were in a very bad mood but something happened that night which changed your mind about Christmas."

"Yes," B'Elanna said, a dreamy look crawling over her face. "It was the next morning actually."

"What happened?" Gretchen asked.

Kathryn glanced at Tom who had the quite apparent look of a guilty man trying to look innocent on his face. She smiled a little to him and he winked at her.

"I woke up and everything seemed normal," B'Elanna said. "But when I got out of bed there was a Christmas tree in the corner and a big present under it. And I got a card from Santa Claus where he apologized for not giving me presents sooner and that he would never forget to include me in his list again."

"And has he?" Kathryn asked, again glancing at Tom.

"No," B'Elanna answered. "He remembers me every year."

Tom smiled to his wife and B'Elanna's smile suggested that she suspected he had had something to do with it but neither of them said anything.

"Daddy, will you please tell us the story about Santa?" Owen begged of his father. "The one that starts like this: 'It was the night before Christmas'." Here Owen changed his voice to try to mimic his father's, much to everyone's amusement. "Please, daddy, please?"

"Mommy promised we could go visit grandma Gretchen," Gretchen reminded her mother.

"I have an idea" Kathryn said, putting her hands up in a pacifying gesture. "If Tom could wait a little before telling his story, we can simply call grandma Gretchen and ask her to come over to us."

"Yes, that's a great idea," Owen said eagerly and Kolopak nodded vigorously.

"Ask her to bring some mint chocolate brownies," Aliyana requested.

"I don't have anything against grandma Gretchen's cooking or her cakes but the mint chocolate brownies are simply not tasty," Miral said.

Kathryn stood up and went to the kitchen to call her mother who had adopted all the Voyager kids as her surrogate grandchildren and they had called her grandma all their lives. They didn't all agree on her cakes however.

"Yes, they are," Aliyana insisted. "It's not really Christmas without them."

"I've been able to celebrate Christmas for sixteen years without them," Miral said. "Now if I'd be asked to forego grandma Julia's traditional Christmas pudding, _then_ it wouldn't be Christmas."

"I agree with Aly," Owen said. "I want mint chocolate brownies too."

"But I really wanted to go to grandma's house," Gretchen complained.

"Maybe we can visit her tomorrow," Chakotay suggested but that didn't seem to please Gtretchen.

"That's what mom said yesterday," she kept complaining.

"You can't always have everything, darling," Kathryn said as she sat back don. "Mom said she'll be here in approximately fifteen minutes and she's going to bring her entire stock of brownies."

"Awesome!" Owen declared. "So hold telling the story until grandma gets here, daddy."

"Yes, sir," Tom said, teasing his son.

This sparked a heated conversation between Tom and Miral who disagreed on parenting Owen. Miral, like Aliyana, like Kathryn, was the oldest and therefore had an opinion on how to raise her brother, who was nine years younger than she. The argument was settled when B'Elanna said, "It doesn't matter one way or the other."

Soon, much sooner than Kathryn had expected, the doorbell rang. It turned out not to be her mother but doctor Joe and Seven of Nine and their adopted son, Henry, accompanied by Harry Kim and Megan Delaney and their daughter Mary.

"Well, the more the merrier, I suppose," Kathryn said after a round of hugs. "Try to make yourselves comfortable in our ever shrinking living room."

It had taken quite a while for poor Harry to sort out his feelings for the Delaney sisters and to choose which one he wanted to be with. In the end Jenny gave up on waiting for Harry to make up his mind and married Mike Ayala and Harry finally admitted that it was Megan he was interested in after all. Their daughter was two years younger than Aliyana and Edward and two years older than Gretchen and Kolopak.

It had also taken Seven and the Doctor a while to work out their relationship. The Doctor, who had finally settled on a name, Joe, had been in love with Seven for many years but Seven had always dismissed his affections because the Doctor was unable to procreate in normal human ways. Kathryn had pointed out to her that not all relationships had to lead to that and there were always alternatives. Seven and Joe had gotten married about a year after Kathryn and Chakotay had, and a few years later had adopted a little boy, after his mother died from the Takaran flu. He was a year younger than Owen.

As genuinely happy as Kathryn was to have her wonderful family with her, to see how much it had grown, she couldn't help feeling rather overwhelmed when all these people tried to cram themselves into her living room. She smiled apologetically to her husband who had each of their younger twins on either knee to make space. Tom was in a similar position, his son was sitting on his lap.

When the doorbell rang for the third time that day, Kathryn was the only one who was in a position to easily stand up so she went back to the door. This time it was her mother, with a bright smile and a big box of brownies of all sorts. She was joined by Kathryn's sister, Phoebe, and her husband, Jim, and their two daughters, Kate and Emily. Kate was two years older than Miral, born before Voyager came home from the Delta Quadrant and Emily was two years younger than Aliyana and Edward, the same age as Mary Kim, who coincidentally, went to the same high school.

Emily, despite Edwards protests, cuddled next to him in his chair and Kate sat down with her back to Miral and Aliyana's knees who were huddled together in a chair. Phoebe and Jim sat down on pillows next to Seven and Joe, whose son was sitting in his father's lap.

"Well, now that we have the whole family here, Kathryn said after giving her chair up to her mother and settling down on a pillow with her back to her mother's knees, "how about that story Tom?"

"All right," Tom agreed, looking around at everyone, making sure they were all excited to hear the story. "Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse..."

As Tom's lovely story continued, despite the crowded feeling in the living room, Kathryn felt this was the best Christmas since that first Christmas party on Voyager all those years ago. Christmas is about family and right now, Kathryn was surrounded by the best family anyone could wish for.

* * *

AN: Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed my story :-) Extra thanks to chuckchuckchuck for the beta and to everyone who reviewed *hug*


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